Visitors Round Two

The family came day by day this week.  After Jenna and the boys; came Austin, Laura and baby Brooklyn.  Brooklyn had never met Grandpa Taylor so this was a sweet meeting!  

She looked and looked at him!

 These two new grandbabies are only a month apart and so interactive at 3 months old!  

We get lots of smiles when we talk to them.

 Carter loved watching cartoons on Grandma's bed while she babysat the little ones while the Mommys were away shopping.  See how both tiny ones would focus on the camera and Carter was glued to the TV!  It was so funny!

 We took the kids to a playground...

because you really can do this in December in Arizona...

 and we had a fun time watching Carter play on the slides and run around.

 We also got some pretty cute shots of Mommies and kids!

It was great to get outside and spend time together!

Visitors Round One

We have been counting down the days until our family started arriving for Christmas...and we got the first on Saturday Dec. 17. First to arrive were actually Carole and John Olsen, down in Phoenix on a last minute trip.  We were so excited to have them visit!  Carole went with us to the airport that night to pick up Jenna, Bennett and Carter!  We waited and waited...to see them finally come on a wheelchair to help Jenna with the two boys...who barely made their flight in NYC and came with no luggage!

Carter was just happy to see familiar faces and to have his "Cars" bag of goods.
Bennett was just happy any time anyone would interact with him in any way!  So mellow and happy!
 Grandma was happy to read books in person to Carter and not just over Skype.
Grandpa was just happy to play Grandpa and not Mission President for a few minutes!
And we all were happy to have been together even though Carole and Johns visit was only a few days!Now they know how to get to our house, we expect many more visits over the next couple of years!
THANK YOU FOR COMING JOHN AND CAROLE!

The Man In Red

We had a special visitor this year at our Christmas Zone Conference during lunch time... you'll never guess who!

And our missionaries were delighted to see the "jolly old elf."

There was lots of lap sitting...

quite a few handshakes...

even some piggy back rides...

And a couple of well-deserved hugs! THANKS SANTA for adding a

fun element to our special day!

I'M DREAMING OF A...

So we were driving to church this morning and this is what we saw....

...is this what you think it is??? Yes, and we were not in Utah either. I have to admit, I made us late for church because I just had to get someone to take our picture outside of the building.

What looks like snow to Arizona kids, is actually a build up of hail from a thunderstorm last night, crunchy to walk on, but white and cold nonetheless. We did not have any at our home only a few miles away so that was interesting. Someone at church told us that the last time this happened was sometime in the late 1980's, so we feel blessed to have even this little taste of home. I'M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS!

IS THIS HEAVEN? NO, IT IS BYU BASKETBALL IN AZ

CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL 15 PHOTOS

We had been looking forward to going up to the BYU- Northern Arizona University Basketball game for about two months and it finally came! And just in time! Seriously, we finished a three-day transfer cycle and were exhausted mentally and just needed to get away from things for a night and this ended up being the perfect thing!

Scott's associates at the BYU sports information hooked him up with free tickets for us, so that was a sweet deal. Braden got to take one of his good friends, Jeremy Hancock, from our ward here and that was sweet.

We got to sit four rows up behind the BYU bench and that was sweet.

Braden asked for a Mormon.org pass along card to hold up and it got him some media attention so that was also sweet.

Then having a Dad that was also a Mission President and stood out like a sore thumb wearing a white shirt and tie, which caught the attention of the camera crew and ended up getting us on TV for the last 30 seconds after the game was also SUPER SWEET.

But the sweetest thing of all was waiting after the game to see some of the players and getting first a photo with Charles Abouo...who was super nice.

And then getting to talk with Brandon Davies who grew up in our stake in Provo and knew Scott as his stake president for that time, was the frosting on the cake. He was the nicest person and took the time to visit with us and hug us and take a photo with us.

The fact that BYU blew away the other team was negligible...it was all about so much more!

Yup, we are good to go for another 5 months here!

Roadrunner the Coyote's After YOU!

I have seen a few interesting things on my runs here in Arizona...mostly things like big bugs or pretty flowers or hot air balloons, or things thrown on the side of the road...but last week was my so-far most interesting one. I was running up next to a busy road north of our neighborhood...keep in mind that we live next to a bunch of un-developed land, all of the desert variety. I saw a dog crossing the busy 6 lane road in front of me...don't like dogs very much when I am out running or walking. Then I recognized from years of going out to Park Valley and Malta that it was not in fact a dog, but a coyote. Cool.As I watched it go down into the brush near the sidewalk I saw three more coyotes waiting for it...yup, a whole pack. Lucky for me there are a lot of cottontails in the area so I did not figure they were hungry for larger game. A little bit creepy. I called Scott to tell him what I saw...and just in case they decided they were in fact hungry.

Now I just need to see the infamous javelina, wild boars, that supposedly roam the deserts as well. Look forward to that post!

HOW MANY DAYS?

For those of you who have not noticed...my daughters are extremely creative.

So it was not a big surprise to find out that Jenna made up this clever idea for a Christmas Countdown...this is how many days until she is coming to see us in Phoenix for Christmas!

This is how we feel about it...YAY! We cannot wait to spend time with family for the holidays and to share with them a little of what we do here in the Mission.

How many days until YOU come and see us?

A Little Worried

We are seeing a pattern lately...

Involving Braden and women's clothing...

and missionaries...

...and River Dancing.

Are You Worried?

FALL COLORS

I have noticed a pattern in colors around my house recently...

Even though the trees may not change color outside here in Phoenix,

the colors of fall are part of our lives inside!

HAPPY FALL ALL!!

ARIZONA STATE FAIR

Have you ever been to a state fair? We realized that I had been to one, but Scott and Braden never had...so we took advantage of "Family P-day to check one out.

When I told Jenna that we were going to the state fair, she asked if we were going to see the "Giant Pig." How did she know??? Yup, the giant pig, smallest horse and giant gator were all side shows at the fair! This is Braden and his friend Lance.

We forced them to go and see the livestock. We did not force them to watch the showing of the hogs and the selling of the calves that we watched while they were off doing manly stuff like walking all over the fairgrounds.

Scott and I meanwhile found the most tame ride possible, the

GIANT FERRIS WHEEL!

But the view from above was GREAT!

Lance and Braden found some of the fastest rides to go on. The big favorite was...

ZERO GRAVITY! They went on it three times.

I would have been so sick!

Great times at the STATE FAIR!

THUNDERBIRD HIKE

Saturday was "Family P-Day" This means we try to do family things...

sometimes even together.

Today we drove over to a nearby conservation area, Thunderbird Rec. There are lots of trails on the hills there. Bre and I went when she was out here in August.

We knew it would be a success when we saw the "Got Poop, SCOOP" sign at the start of the trail...yup, pottiemouth Braden was all about that!

The view from the top was pretty sweet though. You can see all over the valley, all the way to metro Phoenix and in all directions. Parts overlooked the new temple site, where we could see that pretty much nothing is going on down there yet. We think it will be a good two years before our temple is done.

This is a classic "Rock Me!" shadow with Mom and Braden.

And the fearless crew up on top! October 29 and warm, warm, warm by 10 AM. Nice and cool nights and mornings, but pretty hot during the days still.

Come see us...bring your hiking shoes and some snow!

TRUNK OR TREAT

We decided that we have been conditioned to Utah Trunk or Treat parties...we know how to decorate a trunk!! The AZ people mostly sit on camp chairs near their trunk and hand out candy...the invite did say to decorate the trunk, so I just followed directions, and it was pretty cool! The old silver sunshade was reflective and looked great with the orange lights.We wore our Halloween costumes...guess what we were? Yup, missionaries!

Scott did have a strange desire to borrow kids hats though...and we got pictures of him in a few.

President Vader

President Mouse/Sorceror

President Ernie

And last but not least...what he really feels like doing much of the time...

President SCREAM!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL!!!